FUND(S):

Sources of Revenue:

Legislation creates:

Fiscal Note Summary

Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.

The stated purpose of this bill is to raise the tobacco tax by $1 and dedicate half the proceeds to certain health related issues and the other half to the General Revenue Fund.

As written, this bill proposes to raise the excise tax on cigarettes from the current rate of 55 cents per pack to $1.55 per pack, resulting in a gain of roughly $122.3 million per year. Also, the bill raises the tax rate on all other tobacco products from 7% of the wholesale price to 50% of the wholesale price. This increase may yield about $11.8 million per year. These estimates include consumption declines in response to price increases associated with changes in tax rates.

This bill provides that one-half of all Tobacco Products Excise Tax collections be deposited in a special account in the State Treasury (i.e., the West Virginia Healthy Future Fund), up to an annual amount of $60 million. Any additional amount would remain in the General Revenue Fund. As a result, General Revenue Fund collections would increase by a total of roughly $74.1 million per year and the new West Virginia Healthy Future Fund would gain $60 million per year due to the increase in the tax rates.

Additional administrative costs to the State Tax Department would be minimal during the current fiscal year due to programming changes and notifying taxpayers of the rate changes. Thereafter, there would be no additional costs.

Fiscal Note Detail

Effect of Proposal

Fiscal Year

2012Increase/Decrease(use"-")

2013Increase/Decrease(use"-")

Fiscal Year(Upon FullImplementation)

1. Estmated Total Cost

5,500

0

0

Personal Services

0

0

0

Current Expenses

500

0

0

Repairs and Alterations

0

0

0

Assets

0

0

0

Other

5,000

0

0

2. Estimated Total Revenues

0

0

134,100,000

Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):

As written, this bill proposes to raise the excise tax on cigarettes from the current rate of 55 cents per pack to $1.55 per pack, resulting in a gain of roughly $122.3 million per year. Also, the bill raises the tax rate on all other tobacco products from 7% of the wholesale price to 50% of the wholesale price. This increase may yield about $11.8 million per year. These estimates include consumption declines in response to price increases associated with changes in tax rates.

This bill provides that one-half of all Tobacco Products Excise Tax collections be deposited in a special account in the State Treasury (i.e., the West Virginia Healthy Future Fund), up to an annual amount of $60 million. Any additional amount would remain in the General Revenue Fund. As a result, General Revenue Fund collections would increase by a total of roughly $74.1 million per year and the new West Virginia Healthy Future Fund would gain $60 million per year due to the increase in the tax rates.

Additional administrative costs to the State Tax Department would be minimal during the current fiscal year due to programming changes and notifying taxpayers of the rate changes. Thereafter, there would be no additional costs.